The users and agents of BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) are at rest in the dark over at what time a key voice feature of its newest smartphone will be released in the UAE, with the Canadian firm unenthusiastic to launched what the issues are with the country’s operators as well as regulators and a probable timeline for its opening.
In spite of the uncertainty surrounding BlackBerry Messenger Voice in the UAE, Costanzo asserted sales of the new BlackBerry 10 were strong as well as the manufacturer had rose its market share in several Gulf states.
He stated that they have seen market share rose in the Middle East, so that is good thing. They were for all time in top five, mainly the UAE, KSA and Qatar. Since the release of the BlackBerry 10 they have cracked top three in the UAE in addition to top two in the KSA.
As the BlackBerry Messenger Voice (BBMV) permits customers to make free phone calls through Wi-Fi as well as is a key feature of the new BlackBerry 10 device, which was officially released in January.
In spite of Dubai being one of the main cities incorporated as part of a worldwide released across six major cities, BBMV is still not accessible to UAE BlackBerry users.
BlackBerry’s (previous formal name was Research in Motion) new Middle East managing director, Nick Horton told Arabian Business in an interview that BBM Voice was released in several markets in the region, so it is accessible in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for instance. As well as some of the other markets, they are working through with the operators along with various regulators in terms of getting that supported.
According to a report of The Wall Street Journal in January, BlackBerry was in discussion with UAE operators du and Etisalat over issues of BBMV that will affect revenue streams. The report added, BlackBerry is as well in talks with the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), which has actually encouraged operators to permit the service to be activated.
Though, neither Horton nor Rick Costanzo, BlackBerry’s executive VP of worldwide sales that were capable to divulge what the issues or concerns delaying the introduction of the service or proffer a timeline for progress on talks surrounding the issue.